Amelia Jane Lloyd (1856-1924)
|long_name=Amelia Jane Lloyd |birth_year=1856 |birth_month=01 |birth_day=22 |birth_street=Fort Herriman |birth_locality=Herriman, Utah |birth_county=Salt Lake County, Utah |birth_nation-subdiv1=Utah |birth_nation=United States |death_year=1924 |death_month=01 |death_day=28 |death_locality=Tropic, Utah |death_county=Garfield County, Utah |death_nation-subdiv1=Utah |death_nation=United States |ifmarried-g1=true |wedding1_year=1875 |wedding1_month=01 |wedding1_day=1 |wedding1_locality=Pine Valley, Utah |wedding1_county=Washington County, Utah |wedding1_nation-subdiv1=Utah |wedding1_nation=United States |remains_year=1924 |remains_month=01 |remains_day=31 |remains_locality=Tropic, Utah |remains_county=Garfield County, Utah |remains_nation-subdiv1=Utah |remains_nation=United States |globals= }} Biography A short history of Amelia and her family, written by her daughter, Hortense Cope Munson. This is copied from a typed five page written history of Amelia and which is in the possession of some of her descendents. Amelia Jane Lloyd was born 21 January 1856 at Fort Herriman, about 25 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the second child of Robert Lewis and Eliza Adeline Goheen Lloyd. Her parents had arrived but a short time before from Texas, having come with a group of Saints under Preston Thomas (a missionary), as Captain. They left Texas in early part of 1853. Many of them were relatives and friends. They stopped for a few months at Cherokee Indian Nation, at an old Fort to rest their oxen, horses and cattle. So it was late in October 1854 when they arrived in Salt Lake City, and were sent by President Brigham Young on out to Fort Harriman. Here they endured many hardships the first winter. Flour was scarce so that some times they were without bread. They had beef always so never went hungry. In the spring of 1857 at April conference, President Brigham Young called these Texas immigrants to leave and go settle in Southern Utah to try raising cotton. They were from a cotton raising country and had had some experience in raising it. They left as soon as possible, taking with them one milk cow and a heifer, the only cattle they had left after the cold hard winter. They finally arrived in Washington County and settled the little town of Washington in late April and May. There were 28 families plus a few young men in the group. There were no roads in many places. Only a trail made by Indians or animals that they tried to follow. Many times they had to stop and throw rocks out of the way before they could go on. One stretch of road known as the Washington dug way was built by this group so they could enter the valley. When coming over the ridge near Bellevue (Pintura) at a place called Peter's Leap, the men had to take the oxen off and let the wagons down with ropes and chains to keep them from going too fast or tipping over. This took a lot of time and hard work. Little Amelia was of course too small to help with any of this. They also had to be on the look out at all times for Indians. But they were lucky on the trip to not be bothered with them. Every night they met together and sang songs and had their evening prayers, always thanking their Heavenly Father for his protecting care over them. Their first home in Washington was a wagon box. Then a willow shed where they lived until Fall when the men began making adobes. Small homes were built with dirt floors and as they had no lumber, the roofs were covered with boughs, then dirt. They lived in this house for several years, until it finally fell in. They took seeds with them and planted gardens as well as cotton that first year. They lived almost entirely on bread and butter and greens until their vegetables began to yield. They proved that cotton could be grown there as well as sugar cane and other semi-tropical plants. But the living conditions were so unpleasant. With extreme heat in the summer, drought and bad water, malaria soon became a common thing among them. Clothes had to be made from the cotton. Spinning and weaving was done in the homes. The cotton was picked by hand and at night the family would gather around and pick out the seeds. This was a slow process. If one pound was cleaned during the evening they would feel they had done well. Amelia must have had to do her share at this job even though she was young, for her mother had to cord, skin and weave the cloth for the family's clothing. They used roots and plants of different kinds for dying the cloth. The first loom the mother used was a company loom with bobbins made from the reed cane that grew along the river. Later she had a small spinning wheel and she used corn cobs instead of spools to wind the thread on. The women in the town would often get together in the evening and have carding of spinning bees. In this way they could have a sociable time together as well as accomplish a lot of work. Amelia was taught to work. There were many things a child could do. Butter had to be churned. Cows and calves herded, cows milked, gardens planted, weeded, and harvested. Clothing and shoes all made in the home. Children were taught to sew carpet rags and piece quilts. Amelia loved to sew rags and piece quilts as long as she lived. Many times food was scarce. Not much flour. Corn meal, buttermilk and greens were eaten much of the time. There were seven boys and six girls in the Lloyd family. Amelia being next to the oldest girl, no doubt took care of the younger children as well as learning to do all kinds of work. As Amelia grew older the family would move to Pine Valley in the summers while the father worked in the saw mills. It was much cooler there and finally in 1868 they moved to Pine Valley to make their permanent home. Here as before they milked cows and raised gardens The mother would go to St. George or Washington for a week or two at a time to dry fruit for their use. It was here in Pine Valley that Amelia met Thomas Henry Cope, a young man who had come there seeking work. A romance followed and they were married on January 1, 1875. On February 21, 1876 a boy, Thomas Robert was born. When a group of families decided to leave there and go to Panguitch, Garfield County, Utah, Thomas and Amelia joined them. Before leaving, they went to the Endowment house in St. George on February 15, 1877 and received their endowments and were sealed for time and all Eternity. The journey was a hard one. Roads were poor. They lived in Panguitch on the Houston Ranch for several years. It was located about 3 miles north of Panguitch. Father took care of cattle and did farming. Here George Michael, Martha Adeline, Raphael, Maurice Newton, Benjamin, William and Dorinda were born. William and Dorinda died in infancy and were buried in Panguitch. Aunt Elisie Cope Pollock says that Dorinda was born without a roof in her mouth, and because of it she couldn't get nourishment. When she nursed, the milk came back through her nose. Elsie said that her mother told her about it, and that her mother was always afraid that each new grandbaby that came into the family might be so afflicted. The family later moved to a new town, Cleveland (Spry) about 10 miles north of Panguitch. Here Jeannie, James Austin, and Elsie were born. The seasons were short and cold and money was scarce so they had no luxuries. They usually had cows and made their own butter and had plenty of milk and cream. The boys kept the family in fish during the summer time. They lived close to a river where they fished. In the spring of 1896 when Elsie was six weeks old they moved to Tropic, which was 30 miles south east of Panguitch. The climate was much warmer here. They could grow fruit and good gardens. Here Hortense and Orpha were born. Aunt Elsie says: "They planned to move earlier to Tropic but Aunt Elsie got whooping cough and nearly died. This caused a delay. When they got to Tropic Aunt Elsie got better because of the warmer weather." The family now consisted of Father, Mother and eleven children. Thomas Robert was married, George was away attending school at the Brigham Young Academy at Provo, Utah; and Martha Adeline was married soon after. Father planted orchards, had a farm with cows, pigs and chickens, and always raised vegetables. Their living was much better here. Later he rented sheep. This gave the older boys a job of herding them. Amelia was a hard worker. Always busy. If she sat down she knitted lace or crocheted lace on rugs. She also braided rugs. She made her own soap outside in a black tub over a fire. It was made from meat rinds, grease and tallow and lye. She pieced her quilts and corded the wool for bats instead of using cotton for filling. She would take the wool Father brought home and pick it over and wash it. Then she taught us girls to card it. We were also taught when real young to sew carpet rags, piece quilts and make rugs. She tried to keep us busy as soon as we were old enough to work. How thrilled we all were of the new carpet we helped sew the rags for, along with a neighbor who wove. After the floor was freshly mopped, new straw would be brought in and evenly placed on the floor. The carpet would then be stretched over this and tacked down with carpet tacks. How we liked to walk on it. Mother was always generous in dealing with others. She sold milk and butter and always gave a little extra. She would share with the poor and always tried to help children who came there selling anything. She bought flower seeds, salve, pictures or anything else they were selling. As a Bishop's wife for many years, she did her best. People came for Conference Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. Her home was filled with them. Father fed the teams of the visitors, too. That was when horses and buggies were used for travel. The home in Tropic was a nice one for those times and Father saw that we had the best he could buy. We had a nice organ and were among the first in town to have a bathtub with running water. I remember when Mother got her new cook stove, she said it was the first new one she had ever had. It was a fancy Stewart with lots of chrome on it. We tried to keep it always shining. Mother liked to talk and visit. We would sometimes go to Panguitch and visit Uncle Bill, Uncle Ben, Aunt Christa and Aunt Ella and Uncle Dick. She would talk continually as long as anyone was around to hear her. After Aunt Christa moved to Tropic, mother would take us girls and we would go stay all day and visit with her. Mother was a good cook. Not a fancy one, but she could make the best butter, sour cream biscuits and molasses cookies I ever tasted. Her hominy and vegetable soup and lumpy dick just couldn’t be beat. She taught us all to pray before going to bed. She saw that we always attended Primary and Sunday School. She attended Sacrament meeting and Relief Society meeting and she was a Relief Society teacher. I don't know if she held positions in the church in her younger days or not. She taught us to always take a position if we were asked. On January 28, 1924, she died at the age of 68. She was buried in Tropic, Garfield County, Utah on January 31, 1924. __SHOWFACTBOX__